HE’S OUR My world No.1 Rahm can inspire Ryder Cup glory
EXCLUSIVE
RYDER CUP skipper Padraig Harrington reckons Jon Rahm can be the new Seve Ballesteros.
The European captain insists he has a strong all-round team of “ball-strikers” for this week’s clash at Whistling Straits and world No.1 Rahm will be his talisman in what he hopes will be a real 12-man attack.
The Dubliner said: “Nobody wants it more than Jon Rahm, and he’s been incredible all year. The passion he has for this, I’m sure he’s pretty motivated.
“Absolutely he can be a talisman. He is very much in the mould of the great Spanish players, of a Seve, he’s very passionate.
“And he’s got the game to back it up. Clearly as the world No.1 he will be the one leading out on the golf course.”
Harrington, plotting what would be just the fifth away win for Europe, refused to confirm that Rahm will be the man leading out Europe in Friday morning’s foursomes.
“He will be leading on the golf course,” Harrington said. “I don’t know if that means playing first out. Probably not because of the fact I hate being predictable.”
Harrington is playing his cards close to his chest and not even an all-Irish partnership between Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry is guaranteed.
“You should know me at this stage, I a m in no way nostalgic,” he said of Lowry and McIlroy, who played amateur golf together and are now regular practice partners in Florida.
“If it’s the right pairing, it will be played. Nothing outside of that. I don’t really go for that sort of stuff.
“If it does happen, and there is a strong possibility that could happen, it’s not based on the fact that there’s a picture of the lads from 2007.” Harrington (left) has canvassed all 12 players about which team-mate is their preferred playing partner.
And he even wanted to know who they do NOT want to be partnered with.
“It could be as simple as a player saying, ‘I really don’t want the drama of playing with one of the bigger players,’ or ‘I’d prefer a low-key partner,’” Harrington said.
“If you go play with a Jon Rahm or a Rory there is an awful lot of pressure and focus on that. You can have a lowerkey match.
“You’ve got to be realistic about these things, they are hard decisions, and we’ve seen mistakes like that made in the past, where guys are played from the same country.
“Just because they’re from the same country doesn’t mean they have the same games, personalities. Myself and Luke Donald were a terrible duo in Wales. Terrible together.
“But myself and Ross Fisher was a brilliant partnership because he literally thought I was infallible. What more could you ask for?”
The USA are the clear favourites on paper with
10 of the world’s top 12 in their ranks but Harrington insists his troops have a point to prove.
“If a computer was deciding the result of this tournament the Americans would win but it’s not a computer,” he said.
“We certainly have a point to prove out there.”